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Discoblog
« Hugo Chavez: “Any Cloud That Crosses Me, I’ll Zap It So That It Rains”
In Antarctica, Drilling for… 100-Year-Old Whiskey? »

World Famous Sex Blogger’s Day Job? Research Scientist.

red-light-webBelle de Jour, the best-selling author who penned books about her life as a call girl, revealed her true identity over the weekend. Her name is Brooke Magnanti.

Dr. Brooke Magnanti to be exact. It turns out she’s a cancer researcher who began turning tricks while in grad school.

Via the London Times:

Magnanti is a respected specialist in developmental neurotoxicology and cancer epidemiology in a hospital research group in Bristol. Six years ago, in the final stages of her PhD thesis, she ran out of money and turned to prostitution through a London escort agency, charging £300 an hour. Already an experienced science blogger, she began writing about her experiences in a web diary that was adapted into books and a television drama starring Billie Piper.

It’s not like she didn’t try to find honest work. She told the Times that at one point during her double life she had a job as a computer programmer, “but I kept up with my other work because it was so much more enjoyable.”

So what do you think readers? Is this a commentary on how poorly grad students, and scientists in general, are compensated?

More reactions over at The Great Beyond.

Related Content:
Discoblog: Is It “Science” to Show Cadavers Having Sex?
Discoblog: Does the Taste of Semen Have Evolutionary Roots?
Discoblog: When Technology Gets Creepy: Giving Birth in Second Life

Image: flickr / keepwaddling1

Share

November 17th, 2009 10:25 AM Tags: cancer, sex
by Brett Israel in Sex & Mating | 4 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

  • dpc

    I can’t speak to everyone’s situation. Undoubtedly, earning a PhD can take years and is a huge financial burden. Furthermore, conducting graduate work in an expensive metro area adds to the financial pressure. Graduate students should consider this. I did it with two kids and it added a ton of stress.

    However, the case outlined here is an interesting story of one very interesting individual. Not a case of funding graduate students. Grad school is not lucrative and jobs following this are often not high paying. Grad students need to understand this going in.

    I am not passing moral judgment here–I see sex workers as doing a useful job (at least sometimes) and they should not be discriminated against later in their careers for these choices. I respect her for honestly stating that the sex work was much more enjoyable

  • c-rock

    Pretty sure it’s a commentary on how much people will pay for an escort. £300 an hour? Sign me up.

  • Brian Too

    Weird. One wonders why she came out about it now. It would not seem to help with her career as a researcher and could well damage it.

  • http://best-agency-2009.wetpaint.com/rss2_0/pageReport/updated Maddie Aanenson

    have you ever seen this? http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=103594008





    • About the Blog

      Discoblog is DISCOVER's compendium of quirky, funny, and surprising science news from the edge of the known universe. It's written by Veronique Greenwood and Valerie Ross. Email tips and suggestions to vgreenwood [at] discovermagazine [dot] com.

      Discoblog also includes the daily feature NCBI ROFL, in which two prone-to-distraction grad students post real scientific articles with funny subjects. Email your tips to ncbirofl [at] gmail.com. Follow the ROFL feed here.

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